


Bedtime Story

by rannadylin



Series: Watcher Violet [12]
Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 22:56:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20897498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rannadylin/pseuds/rannadylin
Summary: Violet, babysitting younger siblings, tracks down the one that's missing at bedtime.





	Bedtime Story

**Author's Note:**

  * For [storyknitter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/storyknitter/gifts).

> Day 4 of Fictober: Sleepy hug, requested by storyknitter!

“...Three, four, five,” Audie counted heads as the younger Itzli girls scattered to their bedrooms amidst groans of bedtime protest. She reached the end of her count at the door to the hall, through which her oldest sister was just entering, “and Violetty makes...six?” She frowned. “Should be seven. Who’s missing?”

“Oh, dear,” Violet said, ears lowered as she peeked back out into the hall. “I thought I sent them all up ahead of me.”

A quick round of peeking into the rooms clustered around the common room solved the mystery: Lottie’s tower room was empty, with no sign of her in bed or hiding behind bookcases, and no response when they hollered to see if she’d climbed up into the attic. The older sisters exchanged a calculating glance.

“I’ll check the attic,” Audie volunteered with a smirk. “Don’t want you getting all that dust in your hair now that it’s growing back out finally.”

“It’s not too long to  _ wash, _ you know,” Violet protested, but she accepted Audie’s division of labor nonetheless and headed back downstairs to scour the manor for her missing sister.

Reading in the parlor? No, that room was empty. Still at the dining table, lost in the book she’d been reading through most of dinner? No sign there of Lottie or the book. Nor was she in the kitchen for a late-night snack. Violet made her way through the chapel, the schoolroom (where Lottie and her twin were now the eldest of the family-taught Itzlis, due to go off to calpulli school with their older siblings the next season), the library, but all was silent.

The hall ended at the door to Papa’s study. Violet hesitated. Her parents were away for the weekend -- thus her return from the temple housing to look after the younger children in their absence. She had envisioned a fun time, catching up with her siblings, savoring Audie’s cooking and maybe trying to throw together some of those berry muffins the cooks at the temple had been making lately. Misplacing a sister wasn’t in the plans.

Papa’s study wasn’t really off-limits, but the children seldom found reason to intrude there anyway. Still, she had to keep looking till every sibling was safely accounted for, so Violet quietly eased the door open.

Lottie had made a nest for herself there on the rug in front of the cold fireplace. Books surrounded her, more of them open than those that were closed and stacked up. Ink smudged her cheek where she had fallen asleep right on top of the parchment she was apparently taking notes on. Violet smiled and crept in, bending to scoop the little girl up as gently as she could.

Lottie awakened only enough to murmur, “Mrrrnviiiioly?” or something to that effect as Violet eased a fragile old tome out of her small fist and tucked her sister against her shoulder.

“Yes, it’s Violy,” Violet whispered back. “How long have you been in here? Goodness, Lottie, did you leave any of Papa’s books on the shelves?”

Lottie’s reply was no more comprehensible than her greeting, so Violet left the books where they were, a problem for the morning, and headed back toward the stairs. Half-asleep, her sister continued mumbling, apparently a summary of her evening’s research, but Violet couldn’t make sense of the least part of it. So she made encouraging noises in response till they reached the girls’ common room. Audie, combing cobwebs out of her hair, grinned to see the prodigal returned. “She forgot where she sleeps, huh?”

“Wore herself out over research, apparently,” Violet said. 

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I’m sure it won’t be the last. Just wait till she starts school.” 

She reached Lottie’s tower at last and tucked her into bed. Stirred by the shift, Lottie blinked up at her for a moment and muttered something that definitely ended in “...book?”

“We’ll put them away in the morning,” Violet began, but Lottie looked so stricken, she glanced around the room and grabbed the first book she saw -- a compendium of Aedyran fables, apparently. “Surely you’re too tired to read any more now, though,” she said, starting to worry she’d have a cranky, sleep-deprived sister to deal with at breakfast. But Lottie, still more than half asleep, only snatched the book from her with a smile, hugging it to her chest; and then she reached for Violet, pulling her into a hug as well, awkward with the book sandwiched between them. In a moment, she was asleep again, curled up around the book.

“Well,” came Audie’s voice softly from the doorway. “Don’t think that’s how bedtime stories are supposed to work, but it’s good enough for me.”


End file.
